It's the coldest of cold cases, and yet it keeps warming to life. Seventy years after Amelia Earhart disappeared, clues are still turning up. Long-dismissed notes taken of a shortwave distress call beginning, "This is Amelia Earhart...," are getting another look.

The previously unknown diary of an Associated Press reporter reveals a new perspective.

So why is it that they named a line of luggage after Amelia? After all, where's hers?

I used to wonder about that too. It didn't seem like a very good association for luggage. But then I found out that the line was actually started while she was still alive. That made a lot more sense!

From Wikipedia:

"The luggage line that she promoted (marketed as Modernaire Earhart Luggage) also bore her unmistakable stamp. She ensured that the luggage met the demands of air travel; it is still being produced today. The endorsements would help Amelia finance her flying."

That was really interesting! Thanks for sharing that. I like these kinds of mysteries. It's really, really a shame they didn't pay more attention to those radio transmissions though, they might have found her. You just never know.

Some years ago -- maybe eight years? ("Years to th' memory!") -- there was a tv science and education show (the name of which I also do not remember) where a guy had found a piece of metal on a lonely Pacific atoll, and said that the pattern of rivet holes exactly matched spec drawings (which he showed) for the hull of the plane A.E. was flying.

Seemed to me that this, if true, would have been fairly conclusive. Has it been bunked, debunked, or slid into the (very large) middle drawer?

This is the same group. They spent time trying to determine a probable path for Earhart and Noonan and settled on that island as a likely landing spot. IRC the thought is that they ran out of fuel and landed on the island, but that the plane probably soon slipped underwater. As the article says, human bones were discovered in 1940. I wonder if they have considered DNA testing?

I would be more convinced if they had found her luggage, or if they find plane parts. It is amazing how remote this location is.

If you go to the http://www.tighar.org/ website you can read all about the most recent expedition, including day by day accounts and the mountains of evidence they have.

A few months ago, I read all of the evidence on their site. I think they are being plenty cautious and the weight of the evidence seems to indicate they have the right spot. I'm not sure they have the details of their living as castaways correct but I'm pretty convinced they have the right place and general outline correct.

Some years ago -- maybe eight years? ("Years to th' memory!") -- there was a tv science and education show (the name of which I also do not remember) where a guy had found a piece of metal on a lonely Pacific atoll, and said that the pattern of rivet holes exactly matched spec drawings (which he showed) for the hull of the plane A.E. was flying.

Seemed to me that this, if true, would have been fairly conclusive. Has it been bunked, debunked, or slid into the (very large) middle drawer?

Silas

I recall seeing a similar program about the metal panel. However, I also recall seeing someone take a template of the rivet pattern and going over every inch of a Lockheed Electra, noting that it didn't match anywhere. On the other other hand, it was also suggested that this might have been due to the field repairs they were forced to make after the accident on their initial attempt in Hawaii (or was that California?).

Okay, do you own any Amelia Earhart luggage? Do you know where it is right now?

It's a very bad joke A friend of mine took note of the brand name a long while ago (the Amelia Earhart luggage line was established during her lifetime, but it is hard not to note the incongruity. Sort of like having HMS Titanic life boats, Pinto fire extinguishers, or a Paris Hilton drunk driving interlock device.

I recall seeing a similar program about the metal panel. However, I also recall seeing someone take a template of the rivet pattern and going over every inch of a Lockheed Electra, noting that it didn't match anywhere. On the other other hand, it was also suggested that this might have been due to the field repairs they were forced to make after the accident on their initial attempt in Hawaii (or was that California?).

It seemed to me, the metal panel was a map container that wasn't from a Lockheed.

Anther piece I read on the subject noted the map case was from another make of aircraft, but it was also noted that it was known that the Vega had been modified for the trip at the last minute by that manufacturer.

Legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart mostly likely died on an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, according to researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).

Whatever happened, Earhart and Noonan likely died very unpleasant deaths. If they didn't end up on that atoll, then they probably crashed into the Atlantic after running out of fuel -- and one can only hope they were dead before the sharks got to them.

Trying to look at the situation from a purely unemotional standpoint, I think it's probably unlikely that the one who died first was eaten by the other for some practical reasons. With the high temperatures, decomposition would probably have set in very quickly, and there would have been no means of preserving the meat. The people who crashed in the Andes and had to reserve to cannibalism to survive had the benefit of cold temperatures that allowed the meat to be preserved and dried for consumption. They may have had the means to build a fire which would have allowed for at least some meat to have been cooked and eaten right away, but I still think that the chances are slim. If both survived the wreck, then by the time the first one succumbed, the other probably wasn't in very good physical condition either, and cutting and obtaining the meat probably wouldn't have been easy. If one didn't survive the wreck, the other probably wouldn't have been at a point yet where cannibalism was something they were considering.

Still a horrible way to go, even if cannibalism never happened, I can't imagine how long the days must have been.